Monday, June 10, 2013

CAME HOME WITH MIXED FEELINGS TODAY

STAIRWAY TO THE BAYFIELD BEACH (BEACH IS ALSO ACCESSIBLE BY CAR)

Came home with mixed feelings after seeing the Orthopedic Surgeon about my hip problem this afternoon….if it even is a hip problem now. He said my hip showed signs of moderate Arthritis but there was still enough fluid in the joint to keep the ‘bone on bone’ situation from occurring. Apparently it is when bone begins to rub on bone that most hip replacements are done. So on one hand I am glad I do not need hip surgery but discouraged there is no immediate solution to the pains & soreness in my hip area. Have to be thankful for one thing though. The pain & soreness are not constant. On days that it is I have found that if I stop moving & sit down, the pain stops & if I sit long enough it eventually subsides. He also suggested the pain may be caused by something other than my hip. So that kind of puts me back to where I was last winter in not knowing the pain source. I was actually glad last month when my hip X-ray showed ‘moderate to severe’ damage (those were words told to us, not my words) because I felt that finally pinpointed the pain & soreness I have had since late last summer & at last something could be done to correct the problem. Guess that is not going to happen now but he did give me a requisition for another hip X-ray in about 4 months to see if there has been any change. In a nutshell, I am no further ahead than I was last winter. My cane will remain my close companion when needed, as well as extra strength Tylenol. And I have resumed my daily Arthrotec arthritis pill plus added a second pill at supper time.

And that’s about enough complaining out of me for today…………………………………………

SUNSET ON THE BAYFIELD PIER

GROANER’S CORNER:(( ‘Signs You Drink Too Much Coffee’

- You answer the door before people knock. - Juan Valdez named his donkey after you. - You ski uphill. - You grind your coffee beans in your mouth. - You haven't blinked since the last lunar eclipse. - You lick your coffeepot clean. - You're the employee of the month at the local coffeehouse and you don't even work there. - Your eyes stay open when you sneeze. - You chew on other people's fingernails. - Your T-shirt says, "Decaffeinated coffee is the devil's blend." - You can type sixty words per minute ... with your feet. - You can jump-start your car without cables. - Cocaine is a downer. - You don't need a hammer to pound nails. - Your only source of nutrition comes from "Sweet & Low." - You don't sweat, you percolate. - You buy 1/2 & 1/2 by the barrel. - You've worn out the handle on your favorite mug. - You go to AA meetings just for the free coffee. - You walk twenty miles on your treadmill before you realize it's not plugged in. - You forget to unwrap candy bars before eating them. - Charles Manson thinks you need to calm down. - You've built a miniature city out of little plastic stirrers. - People get dizzy just watching you. - You've worn the finish off your coffee table. - The Taster's Choice couple wants to adopt you. - Starbucks owns the mortgage on your house. - Your taste buds are so numb you could drink your lava lamp. - Instant coffee takes too long. - When someone says. "How are you?", you say, "Good to the last drop." - You want to be cremated just so you can spend the rest of eternity in a coffee can. - Your birthday is a national holiday in Brazil. - You're offended when people use the word "brew" to mean beer. - You have a picture of your coffee mug on your coffee mug. - You can thread a sewing machine, while it's running. - You can outlast the Energizer bunny. - You short out motion detectors. - You don't even wait for the water to boil anymore. - Your nervous twitch registers on the Richter scale. - You think being called a "drip" is a compliment. - You don't tan, you roast. - You can't even remember your second cup. - You help your dog chase its tail.

------------------------------------------------------------- - Tourists see the world, travelers experience it. - Home is where your pet is:)) - "If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans." (James Herriot) - The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward - The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL. - It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.

17 comments:

Al, for years Jim thought he was going to need a hip replacement because it hurt to bad when he walked. Went to DISC in Scottsdale after his doctor told him it wasn't his hip. Sure enough it was his back not his hip. And the pain was caused by the way he was walking and straining his body to compensate for the back pain that he didn't know he had.

I was just going to say, have you had your back checked out? A simple bit of therapy from a Chiropractor might be all that's required. Hope you get the right answer soon. Sometimes it's as painful tracking down the cause as living with the problem.

I was also going to suggest having your back checked. a couple years back I was having problems with pain in hip to knee, turned out to be a degenerated disk. A few shots of cortisone and nno more pain

I turned 61 last month. When I was 40, I had a hip problem much like yours. I was an avid cyclist (bicycle), racing speed...in shape....I went chiropractors for back adjustments ...no help. I went orthopedic surgens, no help and finally decided I was headed to hip surgery, maybe lower back surgery.

While on vacation returning home, my dad introduced me to a Licensed Massage Therapist that treated athletes and was into Reflexology.

When I walked in his office the first time, I couldn't bend over, even to put my jeans on. Sharp knife like pain in my hip, constant feeling like I needed my hip popped back in place...

After five minutes he found that my hips had rotated due to a lower back problem and my legs, due to that hip rotation were 1-1/2 inches different in length when matching my ankles while lying on my back.

Long story short....I went to his treatment 3x/week for a 1-1/2 hour massage and reflexology treatments. After 4 weeks I could stand, bend over and lay my palms flat on the floor and NO PAIN in my hip nor my back.

For the past 21 years I have never had that hip problem again. Over those years I gradually fell out of athletic shape....still no hip problems at all.

IF you try this, make sure the person is an LMT and does Reflexology, not all LMT's do that type of treatment.

After backpacking 900 miles on the Appalachian Trail I had to quit because of bursitis in my hip, and severe arthritis. Another backpacker told me to try glucosamine and chondroitin, and that it usually takes 8 wks to notice a difference. I have been 15 years without pain, although the arthritis may be getting worse because I tend to feel it now and then. The gluosamine made all the difference in my life, yet I never met a doctor who would admit it could help. Good luck.

Massage, chiropractor and glucosamine have worked for me over the years relieving my hip and back pain. The last year or so I switched to MSM powder from health food store, instead of the glucosamine and my back pain and left hip is almost non existant.

I understand how you feel, you want an answer and a cure. I never expected I would need a 2nd hip this summer but I do. What kept me mobile all winter was a weekly massage ( much cheaper in Mexico by a Registered Massage Therapist from Canada ) and seeing a Mexican chiro guy. Don't give up looking for a solution.

AL'S CAMERA EQUIPMENT

A sometimes asked question readers have about my blog is what kind of a camera do I use. Well I have 8 of them and use them all. Five Nikon DSLR's, two quality Sony point and shoots plus one older Canon point and shoot.

'UPDATE':: July 2017 Thanks to a very generous blog reader I have been able to update my Nikon camera equipment and supplement my camera gear with a couple additional fine Sony cameras as well.I now have a 'donated' Nikon D7200 sporting my new Nikkor 18-300 3.5 zoom lens. Also have picked up a new Nikkor 1.8 primary 35mm lens. In addition I also now have a Sony RX100-3 camera as well as a Sony Exmore Cybershot. I have given my Canon Powershot point and shoot camera to a neighbor.

- In early 2017 I replaced my Nikon D-90 camera with a new D-3400 after the 'auto focus' feature on my aging D-90 quit working. The Nikon D-90 had been my work horse camera sporting a Nikkor 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 lens. I used this camera for most of my landscapes and I now have it set up for night photography where 'auto focus' is not necessary.

-My older faithful and favorite Nikon D-40 finally packed it in during the summer of 2015 and I replaced it with a new Nikon D-3100.

- Previous to my Nikon D-90, most of my photos were taken with my old faithful Nikon D-50 from 2006 to early 2011 whereupon the D-50 suffered a rather gruesome death when it fell off a table onto a cement porch in southeastern Arizona. The 70-300mm lens on the camera survived the fall but the D-50 did not. My Nikkor lenses are interchangable between the D-90 the D-3100 and the D-3400.